Live on £4,000 for a year - 2009, Part 3

Frugaldom

Hi BigMumma Thanks for the input, great post. I have to admit that I usually do the gift shopping throughout the year as and when I spot any bargains online. High street shopping isn't really something we do much of about here and there's certainly not a huge selection of goods in our local charity shops.

Excellent carbon footprint, Mama67. I just redid mine and if I add in DS's car and work mileage, our household shoots up to over 12, more than half of that on cars and the bulk of the rest on electricity. Just can't win, but I guess living amongst all this greenery and attempting to be self-sufficientish, plus having forestry everywhere must account for something.

Can anyone explain in very, very simple terms how they assess the carbon footprint? If it's by the amount of carbon dioxide emitted, then isn't that what we exhale with every breath, as do all living creatures on our planet? Is the Government eventually going to tax us on breathing? Some sort of respiratory tax, maybe?:rotfl:

Kittikins

Hi everyone, have been having a reasonably frugal weekend, but couldn't resist letting DD and I make our own "cupcake" mosaic tiles whilst out at a fair; they're gorgeous and are proudly up on the wall..£7 for the pair, not very cheap but we had great fun making them and they'll always remind us of what a fabulous weekend we've had

I'm scared to go on the carbon footprint site.....but have updated my electricity monitor to show the real price per kwh and it's nearly double what Br1tish G*s had printed in the instructions. Gulp. So, I'm sitting here in the dark, with the TV and fridge on, but nothing else watching Griff on R1vers, very interesting. Hmm, thinking about it, it would be better to not watch TV but to have iplayer in the background whilst on the laptop....

Or maybe I could get too darned obsessed by it!!

DdraigGoch

A Letter from the County of Llwynfedwen, federated with the Duchy of Frugaldom to the Duchess and her subjects:

Greetings!


:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Sorry, but it's been a silly and happy day here today :j Last night I took delivery of 10 Orpington black cockerels [5 @ 3months, 4 @ 1 month and one chick who has the loudest "Peep!" EVER :A] and they've had a lovely day, rummaging around the yard and field, then, wonder of wonders, they put themselves to bed - with only a little help...

So, not a lot has been done. I've been watching them , being glad it hasn't rained and looking for my car key :rolleyes: I simply HAVE to find it, as not only is it my only one, it'd cost over £100 to get another one:eek: [it's one of those fancy ones ] :eek: So, please keep your fingers crossed a little bit for me, please.

My electricity is likely to be higher this year, since I've bought a new [to me] electric fire to stop me freezing. Hey ho.

Best wishes for everyone's hopes and dreams, congratulations to everyone who's even that tiny bit closer to them and hopes and hugs to those who need them, particularly those who sometimes might feel they can't say anything in public - a lot of us understand how you feel, so, have a "secret" hug.

Hoping everyone has a good and quiet night and a lovely morning tomorrow.

DG

cw18

Just input the last of my July spends, so time to report my current situation......



My total underspend at the end of this month (£147.12) isn't anywhere as good as it was at the end of June (£652.96) :eek: But I've had 4 one-off bills (car service, mot, car insurance and gutter cleaning) which total £488.32, plus the emergency vet bill of £81.83 -- so I'm neither surprised nor worried about this.

As ever, the category titles in red are my 'one-offs'. These account for £693.88 from the first seven months of my £8k/year budget, but I've actually now paid out £744.64 meaning an overspend of £50.76 !!!

Where the budget figure is in red, I've altered it since the end of last month - whilst still maintaining my £8k total figure.

Window Cleaning has been split to take out the gutter cleaning, and the combined total has been reduced from £200 to £148.20 (reduction of £51.80). This means I should now end the year bang on target as I finally know the actual cost for the gutters (had allowed way more than that) and the increase on my windows for the rest of the year.

Vets Bills has been increased by £80 towards the bill from last Sunday :eek: May need further adjusting in September after I know the cost of the Dalmatians booster, but the worming and flea treatments could swing it either way (I officially have enough to the end of this year, and planned to order next years before the end of December as I bought this years before 1st Jan - but I've been 'promised' some from someone who no longer has use for their stockpile, so that could see the larger dog part way into next year for little or no cost)

MOT and Service have been dropped from £50 and £125 respectively, now I know the actual cost - so a combined reduction of £20, and no nasty repair bills to be covered to get through these :T

Groceries for 'the girls' (GDs) has been increased by £47.80, as my original budget didn't include having them around school after they broke up for the Summer holidays - but DD and I have now worked things out so they can continue to come here

Groceries for elder DS have been increased by £10.80 - which covers him spending an extra 6 days leave at home this year.

As a result of all the above my 'Anything Else' has dropped by £66.80, as this was the only way to retain my £8k total.



The 'Spent' column figures in red are where I'm currently over budget.

The overspend on Phone/Broadband should continue to decrease each month - overspent due to changing to a cheaper provider early in the year (meaning the first month was more expensive), and with a set-up fee also involved.

The overspend on Mobile is due to still being tied to my contract. Need to get in touch with my provider tomorrow regarding converting to PAYG, but gave a feeling I may have left it to late to convert as soon as my contract minimum term ends.

Gutters, Breakdown, Road Tax, MOT and Service all show as overspends as these are single payment items already paid - so will be 'on target' at the end of the year.

Car Insurance currently shows as over the annual budget, but should be bang on that figure by the end of October..... just need to wait and see if my £20 Cashback clears before I know what it needs changing to

Toiletries/Cleaning overspend is still due to the purchase of carpet shampoo. But I'm still hopeful DD will buy some off me in a couple of weeks (when she has a week off work to blitz her house), so there's a chance I'll be back on track at the end of August


My "Presents" budget is only under at the moment as younger DS still hasn't definitively told me what he wants for his 18th (which was 2.5 weeks ago). He did initally ask for a return rail ticket to London, to go down for a weekend with college friends. However, that has now been called off (should have been this weekend) as the place they were meant to be staying (belongs to family of one of his friends) was broken into - so the owners had to go down to sort things out for the police/insurance company, and there isn't another weekend that the property isn't in use before they're back at college. So he's now hinting at a new graphics card for his PC instead, which is likely to cost me considerably more :rolleyes2 I have a feeling that had I purchased that in July I'd be lucky to be showing any 'overall' underspend at all

SFT_2

Thanks Bails and Nyk for your messages. Had a quick scan so hope I didn't miss any others.

Hope you are all well. Hugs to those who need them.
Still using free Wifi. Currently in a cafe.

Well my costa rica adventure continues.

Day 6
Went bird watching very early in the morning. Saw hummingbirds, a parrot, a woodpecker and many more. Also a blue jeans frog who was tiny but is highly toxic! Later we went on a boat ride along the river and saw iguanas, crocodiles and a two toed sloth. Definately a memorable day.

Day 7
Spent visiting a volcano (Arenal, the most active in Costa Rica). Then travelling to Monteverde Cloud Forest.

Day 8
(Today) Has been another wildlife adventure-I saw Quetzals (if you are interested, look them up they are rare and just beautiful and a 3 wattled bellbird. Also a white nosed coati and another 2 toed sloth. This afternoon we have visited a reptile house (great snakes, lizards and frogs) and a butterfly house (the blue morpho butterflies are stunning).

Our grocery budget is doing well, despite the fact that in Costa Rica they charge 23% tax on all meals :eek:. We are currently up to $120 saved just by chooisng cheaper options and not getting drunk! May well use it for spending money for nephew's trip next year.

Take care.
Much love

SFT

sophiesmum_2

SFT - loving the updates from your holiday :D

Frugaldom

Good morning all

SFT loving the bird & wildlife reports! Now I need to know what kind of parrot you saw as I'm a 'parrot person' and have worked with all sorts of Macaws and Amazonian species. Hope you get to see some macaws in the wild, the Hyacinth ones are rather spectacular

CW, you are doing a superb job of juggling finances. Will you carry over any surplus you might manage by the end of the year into a savings pot or will you target it at something more specific? (Like a quick holiday 'up north once they finish harvesting) :rotfl:

Ddraig, couldn't I send you Captain Beaky to keep those Orps company? If I only knew someone travelling your direction, he'd be on your doorstep with a little pleading note attached saying, 'please be my new mum':rotfl:

Thrifty, we'll be watching to make sure you stick to that list. :cool:

HS went and dug up the rest of the first bed of potatoes yesterday, so these are all going to get boiled and frozen in mealsized portions as mash, croquettes and fishcakes (if I have enough breadcrumbs).

I'm back on the Carbon footprint trail again. Sorry to be so boring but it does seem like this will become a big issue with future Governments, so I'm as well tackling the problem from a frugaler's point of view. According to the imeasure site, our carbon footprint for this household is going to be around 6.4 tonnes for electricity alone. By the time I count in transport and any other secondary stuff, there is absolutely no way I can imagine coming in anywhere near the national average. We don't go UK holidays, let along fly abroad, I don't own a car and I rarely travel on public transport. I think I need to do a quick study on how carbon dioxide affects our climate, because I am just not convinced that individuals and their household C02 emissions can be such a huge problem.

thriftylass

nykmedia wrote: »

I'm back on the Carbon footprint trail again. Sorry to be so boring but it does seem like this will become a big issue with future Governments, so I'm as well tackling the problem from a frugaler's point of view. According to the imeasure site, our carbon footprint for this household is going to be around 6.4 tonnes for electricity alone. By the time I count in transport and any other secondary stuff, there is absolutely no way I can imagine coming in anywhere near the national average. We don't go UK holidays, let along fly abroad, I don't own a car and I rarely travel on public transport. I think I need to do a quick study on how carbon dioxide affects our climate, because I am just not convinced that individuals and their household C02 emissions can be such a huge problem.

I guess some person sitting behind a desk made up the targets - 2 tonnes?!! The most frugal people on this forum don't make it under 6. Unless they want us all to turn vegan, cancel our bank accounts, generate our own power by windmill, never travel anywhere unless on foot and be entirely selfsufficient, I don't see any of us make that target - never mind the politician that made that number up or any American or Chinese for that matter to name a few examples.

cw18

nykmedia wrote: »

CW, you are doing a superb job of juggling finances. Will you carry over any surplus you might manage by the end of the year into a savings pot or will you target it at something more specific? (Like a quick holiday 'up north once they finish harvesting) :rotfl:

don't think I'll be carrying it over in terms of giving myself a higher budget for next year, but would hopefully leave at least some of it (after petrol/accomodation for a short trip away) in the bank towards next years £8k (especially as I won't actually have that much coming in unless I find a job). Still not sure I'll actually have [strike]anything[/strike] much left, as a new waterproof coat is going to sting me big time (though parents will be happy to subsidise this one as an early Christmas present - they've already told me to shout if I need something my income won't stretch too ), and a new pair of shoes is also going to take a huge chunk of my 'anything else' (current ones cost about £80 last November, they get worn a lot, have already lost almost all the tread on the ball of the feet, and the edge of one 'heel' has just worn right through the rubber sole to the spongy bit inside!). Desperately need a few weeks of good weather so I can wear some other shoes and extend the life of these :rolleyes2

I'm back on the Carbon footprint trail again. Sorry to be so boring but it does seem like this will become a big issue with future Governments, so I'm as well tackling the problem from a frugaler's point of view. According to the imeasure site, our carbon footprint for this household is going to be around 6.4 tonnes for electricity alone. By the time I count in transport and any other secondary stuff, there is absolutely no way I can imagine coming in anywhere near the national average.

The way I read the calculator site, those figures are per person. It certainly only allocates me half the gas/electricity figure as there are 2 of us in the household. So if your household footprint for electricity is 6.4 tonnes, then that's only just over 2.1 tonnes each (until DS moves out).

We don't go UK holidays, let along fly abroad, I don't own a car and I rarely travel on public transport. I think I need to do a quick study on how carbon dioxide affects our climate, because I am just not convinced that individuals and their household C02 emissions can be such a huge problem.

But if everyone took that attitude then CO2 emissions as a whole would shoot up, which is why they're encouringing all households to make 'baby step' reductions. However, I agree that the unnecessary use of cars (polishes halo for keeping mileage between MOTs down to just under 2900:A) and multiple flights each year are a much bigger problem. I also feel I'm doing my bit by using f/cycle rather than 'skipping' things just 'cos I don't want them any more - even if the two large appliances I've donated haven't been very fuel efficient

ETA: I do agree that the 2 tonnes target seems unrealistic, but I guess they're saying that's where we should ideally be to combat changes rather than we have to get down to it. And there's all the offsetting malarky (planting trees etc) than can be done to "let" us use more - not than I can afford to pay to plant forests each year

Frugaldom

Hi CW, yep, I agree with recycling, always have done, it's a waste otherwise LOL But the thing I don't understand is how carbon is wrecking the planet. I thought everything on our planet was more or less carbon based and all lifeforms need oxygen, so any interaction between anything and our atmosphere is going to result in the production of carbon dioxide. Surely if there is an imbalance then it's on the part of commerce and industry, so each area should be designed to create some sort of mini-biosphere to ensure that over production gets neutralised accordingly. I CAN see the point of helping nature where our modern industrial nations are upsetting the balance but I can't understand HOW they will ever monitor individual carbon counts for the purposes of offsetting it all when the world is such an ill-divided place and UK is so tiny on a global scale. Maybe we should be investing more heavily in space exploration than in technology because, at the end of the long, long day, earth will end and those generations who inhabit it then will need to have some place else to go. We each need to do our little bit but those in power need to lead by example and ensure that ways are found to make it affordable to all. I'd be perfectly happy living in a forest, cooking/heating with wood and growing my own food but if everyone did that then we'd have run out of woodlands a long time ago. There! Those are my philosophical thoughts for the day.